Partners
by Nancy Makuhari
Summary: Left with much time and energy on their hands, Kakashi and Sakura train together and keep each other company in the absence of their team mates. Kakasaku


**Partners: Chapter 1**

She gasped as he took yet another step closer to her. Until only a day ago she recalled that at all times this very man had been the personification of self restraint, exuding a strength that flowed strongly but still quietly just blow the surface. Now his eyes looked down upon her with a mysterious and dark expression. Everything she knew of him seemed to have come undone.

The heat radiated from his body and she could not control her heart as it raced in response. In one quick motion she felt his hip brush against her own as he moved even closer still. A split second later she found that somehow she was no longer standing and had fallen into his arms. "You!" she cried, pushing against him, her palms merely rubbing futilely against his chest. She was completely unaware of how flushed her cheeks had become. "How dare you! What do you think you're doing!" Her full lips pouted but her eyes blazed with fiery anger.

The older man only smiled ruefully at this as he cocked an eyebrow. His voice dropped, "I'm doing this..." he said in a guttural near whisper. He leaned in closer and -- **"**KA-KA-**SHI**!**" **

A shrill voice pierced the moment of enjoyable fictional suspense Hatake Kakashi had been deeply engrossed in. The copy-nin's singular visible eyebrow twitched with mild irritation. Below him, in the shadow of the tree stood a very irritated looking pink haired ex-student of his.

"Ahh, Sakura. It looks as if you've found me," his voice coming off natural and unsurprised. He carefully closed his book as not to loose his place. He tucked it away in his back satchel and proceeded to lackadaisically rest his chin in his palm as he looked down at her with one heavy-lidded eye. "What are you planning on doing about it?"

"Doing!" Her voice rose in anger her face flushed to almost match the color of her hair, "I'm leaving! That's what I'm doing, Kakashi."

"Oh?" He had only been "missing" for about 30 minutes this time; not very long for him at all. She failed to notice his genuine surprise.

To any passerby unaware of the man in the tree, she continued on as if ranting to herself or possibly at the ground, "When we agreed we would train together today, I was under the crazed impression that we would actually, you know… train!" She near stuttered as she spat out the last word and threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Ah," he mused quietly to himself, his hand moving upward to rub his masked chin, "But Sakura, this _is_ training." His voice embodied both a relaxed tone of calm and caring. He continued matter-of-factly, "This exercise will hone your tracking abilities. As a medic-nin you will have to be able to seek out injured comrades who have perhaps hidden themselves to avoid capture by the enemy." Her face faulted. _As if I'd actually believe something like that_, she thought to herself. She knew he was just taking a break to start in on his newest novel. It was beyond her understanding why he was unable to wait only another hour or so, for when they'd be done.

Kakashi watched as her face changed from receptive for a possible valid explanation, back it's angered flush from a moment previous. He sighed. Despite his distraction on this particular day (the release date for the newest volume of Icha Icha Paradise, which he of course now owned), he actually greatly enjoyed this near weekly tradition. In the months following the failed Sasuke rescue mission and Naruto's departure to train with Jiraiya, Sakura had quickly begun developing new jutsus under the expert tutelage of the Fifth Hokage. Not only had she blossomed as a prodigy medic-nin, Tsunade also imparted upon her student the technique that had brought her own famed strength. These skills were only attainable to those who exercised expert charka control, a gift Kakashi felt proud he had recognized early on in Sakura. He also observed with little surprise, that Sakura dealt with the dissolution of her team by pouring herself completely into her new training with a never before seen intensity. He knew of the pressure she endured, the inferiority she felt in the presence of her old team mates. And he knew that she was desperate to no longer watch from the side lines, but to be both their and aid and their equal. In this way she reminded him of his old friend…

But despite all her progress, on the occasion that he saw her during that time, he could still sense a deep dissatisfaction within her, a sadness lurking behind what were once cheery wide green eyes. Kakashi felt personally responsible for protecting that precious innocence about her, if it could be helped. It was because of this that he was absolutely willing to train with her each week as she asked of him, rain or shine. That and he found her spit fire temper, if manipulated out into the open, was amusingly more than worth the time and effort.

Sakura looked up at her former sensei turned friend and sparing partner. He was perched up the tree looking nostalgically off in the distance, apparently lost in thought. She could feel a twitch just below her eye as a vein elsewhere in her forehead throbbed. _Damnit Kakashi,_ she thought. _He's probably thinking about something perverse._

"Baka! What do you take me for! I'm not just some Genin fresh from the academy."

"Oh?" Kakashi replied nonchalantly tilting his head.

She smiled back confidently, eyes flashing as she focused a large amount of chakra into her gloved hand. With all her strength she slammed her fist into the ground releasing her energies at the precise moment her knuckles made contact. A shock wave was sent forward, shattering the ground before her and rocking the tree Kakashi was sitting in.

_Ah, she's getting more serious now_, he thought and smiled to himself under his mask. _Now this will be fun._

Sakura was, to put it lightly, perturbed. _That damned Kakashi_, she thought. _This whole thing was his idea, after all. How dare he shirk on me after I'd kept my schedule clear so I could be here!_

It was almost two years since Kakashi had proposed the idea to her that they spar together occasionally as training. Sakura could remember the events that lead up to it well…

_----_

"Tsch.. what a guy!" Tsunade-sama observed one day, looking out at Kakashi from her office window, "Has he no shame?"

Sakura stood silent. Hearing someone speak poorly of her much trusted ex-sensei made her uncomfortable, even if it was the Hokage doing the talking. She _had_ thought it odd that Kakashi could be found with such frequency hanging around the Jounin HQ, specifically the roof tops adjacent to the Hokage complex. Why wasn't the illustrious copy ninja busier at times like these? She posed the question to the Fifth as politely as she could, "Maybe he's bored and is waiting around for more mission work?"

"That guy… I give him month long A and even S-ranked missions and still here he is back, after a mere week," She said in exasperation. Tsunade sighed and added almost reluctantly, "While I could send him on lengthier reconnaissance missions, I've been advised that because of our current vulnerability Kakashi's particular skills are best kept at least somewhat on hand." The Fifth turned from the window and paced the room, "But sometimes I wonder if it is worth having to endure him always out there with those perverted books that damn Jiraya puts out." She frowned in irritation at the thought of her former fellow team mate. "Hentai," she said under her breath while shaking her head. Sakura sweatdropped in embarrassment for her former sensei.

Sakura had been dismissed early that day due to yet another conference concerning topics too covert for someone of her status to be informed of. As she exited the complex she exchanged the now usual farewell with Kakashi.

"Goodnight, sensei," she called, heading off in the direction of her new apartment.

"Yo," he called back, his gaze only briefly leaving his book.

Later that night, in those last moments before sleep, Sakura thought of Kakashi again, though this time more kindly than her current instructor. _Poor Kakashi-sensei. He's probably just feeling down over Naruto being gone… And Sasuke._ Her train of thought momentarily halted at the mental image of the dark haired Uchiha. But she pushed on, refusing to dwell on the negative. _Tomorrow_, she yawned_, tomorrow before training, I'll do something nice for Kaka-sensei._ She smiled contentedly, very much close to sleep._Hmm…I'll offer to treat him to ramen,_ she concluded. _And maybe I'll finally get to see him without that mask of his!_ She chortled a bit to herself as she sunk deeper into the warmth of her bed, _Yeah… his mask… forget… maybe… _and then she was asleep.

The next morning Sakura found Kakashi easily enough. Like every other day that he wasn't off on a mission, he sat perched on the roof always a little before noon.

"Ano… Kakashi-sensei?"

He looked up over his book and down at her, his sleepy eye opened only somewhat wider in surprise. "Ohayo, Sakura. Isn't it a bit early for you to be here?"

"Um," she smiled at him nervously. _Go on!_ Inner Sakura growled,_ it's not like your asking him out! You're just trying to be nice to your obviously weird and troubled sensei._ Sakura coughed into her hand to hide her blushing. After clearing her expression she continued, "I –uh– forgot that I was supposed to meet Tsunade-sama early _tomorrow_ and not today! I just remembered on my way here!" She feigned a troubled look and slapped a hand to her cheek for effect. She sighed dramatically and added, "And in my rush I skipped breakfast and um, I'm a bit hungry now… Um, I was wondering, since you're here," she studied his blank expression to see if he could tell she was fibbing, "I was wondering if um, you wanted to get some ramen with–" she stopped herself. "I mean, it's been a long time since we er.." She steeled her self, at loss for how to make it sound less outrageously date-like, "Are you hungry?" She smiled as brightly as she could at him. With her teeth that clenched and she imagined in this moment she must look a lot like Naruto when he smiles.

Kakashi took this all in and surmised that the pink haired Genin was probably even lonelier than he'd previously figured. _Poor Sakura…_ _Of course he'd go!_ "I would definitely enjoy that, Sakura. Where would you like to go?"

The two headed to Ichiraku, the old local ramen stand. It had been a while since either had been there. She found it difficult to think of any kind of conversation topic, and as they walked on in silence she was half relieved when he pulled out his small orange volume. But she then chastised herself, her whole purpose was to create, at least for today, an activity that he could enjoyed himself in and not just read through. Once they arrived at their destination, though, all talk was devoted to ordering.

"Well," Kakashi drawled looking over the menu, "I think I'll have the… miso pork ramen. Please." He smiled at the waitress who blushed, recalling his previous visit when she'd seen his face.

Sakura's head shot up from her menu. She disregarded the waitress's reaction, trying not to focus on her envy. Instead she couldn't help but smile warmly at Kakashi; what he had ordered was Naruto's old favorite. She felt a flush of comfort at being there in that particular ramen stand with a team mate once again. While it did bring the feelings of sadness over their absence to the surface afresh, she appreciated her sensei's subtle reminiscence. When she woke up a bit from the flood of emotions she found that she was still smiling dumbly at Kakashi a moment longer than appropriate. And, he was goofily returning her smile. "Ahahahahaha!" she blushed profusely, scratching the back of her head and turning hastily back to her menu. "I think uh, I'll have the um… same thing! Yeah!" Her eyes focused with intensity upon the cook as he prepared the noodles, broth and various other toppings. She signed and tried forcing herself to unwind a bit.

"It was very nice of you to invite me out, Sakura. It has been a while since we've really talked."

She balked. When have they ever really talked? It was well known that the mysterious copy-nin rarely if ever spoke of anything personal. In their whole year of training Team 7, the most they'd learned about him was that he was strongly attached to the ideal of teamwork… and that his sense of humor was more than somewhat warped by his perverted novels. Outside of that… Well, he'd opened this gate and now she was going to take advantage of it. How the heck did he think it was ok for him to sit around the HQ reading those novels all the time?

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei," she began nervously as their ramen was set down before them, "I noticed you seemed to have a lot of free time as well lately and.."

Kakashi had more than an inkling that this whole lunch was a set up. _Sakura_, he reasoned, _was never one to mix up dates or be so unorganized she be rushed enough to miss breakfast_. "Oh? Are you asking me to train with you?"

_EH! What!_ Her mind reeled.

From the flushed look on her face Kakashi felt that he had guessed right. But he didn't want to have to put Sakura through any more trouble or embarrassment by having to ask him outright; he decided he would make it easier on her. "Sakura, I know you now have many more jutsus to practice and not very much of a team left to practice with. It only makes sense that you would come to your old team leader to help you."

It was true that she had a lot more excess time now that Team 7 had fairly much dissolved. Sakura appreciated all that Tsunade-sama shared with her, but she was Hokage and could not dedicate the same amount of time to training her one on one as Kakashi had. Additionally, Sakura also had a lot more pent up energy now that Naruto wasn't around for her to beat into line constantly. Despite all this, she had never hoped that she would find herself once again training with Kakashi without Naruto or Sasuke. Yes, he was a superior ninja than most, the Copy-Ninja Sharingan Kakashi, more skilled, cunning and dependable than any she knew… but at the same time, he was also Hatake Kakashi, smut collector and super pervert. That she now lacked additional team mates to act as a buffer between her and the older man left her somewhat unnerved.

Sakura laughed nervously which Kakashi took as an affirmative. She quickly turned her face to hide her shock and bit down on the base of her palm as she wondered, _Where would he get a crazed idea like that! Training. ALONE. With him and his orange books! He's so weird! I took him out here in the first place to help him feel better and act less like a weirdo. But now he's even weirder! Saying really weird things!_

Kakashi meanwhile, happy at the prospect of something to look forward to outside of the recent depressing A and S ranked missions, ate heartily.

_This isn't where I planned this conversation going at all!_ inner Sakura wailed miserably. Yes, she had been considering getting extra help, but the happy prospect of it training another kunoichi for once, possibly Shizune, was now fading fast. She looked wearily up at him just as he finished pulling up his mask. _BAKA! And you missed your chance at seeing his face… again!_

"Ah, Sakura," Kakashi looked blankly down at his younger companion with concern, "I think you should eat. You look a bit paled. You know, as a ninja you learned the first day it isn't very good to miss meals, even if it'll make you just a little bit late."

At this comment, her eyebrow twitched.

When she arrived at the Hokage's office that afternoon, Sakura brought up the prospect of additional training with Kakashi to Tsunade. She had hoped that her new sensei would sense her distress and give her a plausible excuse she could then pass on to Kakashi. _Maybe she'll say something about how I'm only to study with fellow medic-nin?_ That sounded stupid and she knew it, but she couldn't think of anything good on her own. She stood before the desk in the Fifth's office, her eyes pleading, "Please, please help me!" but instead she was met with an unfortunate response.

"Actually Sakura, I think that is an excellent idea!"

Sakura could not hide her disappointment. Her eyes bulged. And then she slouched, nearly fell to the floor actually, and was then almost glaring at the Hokage. But Tsunade continued unfettered by this reaction.

"I would be extremely happy to see less of him on my roof tops and to know he was off doing something more constructive than reading _those_ books." Her eyes narrowed at the thought. She took a sip of sake unseen by Sakura from behind an enormous pile of papers and let it sooth her a bit.

"With all due respect, Tsunade-sama, if you want me to train with a partner isn't there anyone better suited?"

"Absolutely not!" Tsunade slammed a fist down on her desk a little harder than she normally would. She checked herself and continued, "He is very well suited to help you develop the combat skills that I obviously cannot spend much time on with you in here. …Tsch! Why is it that Genin these days feel that they can question the Hokage?" she wondered aloud and then took another sip of sake in the shadow of her humongous pile of work.

Sakura turned for the door knowing she was dismissed, and could only wonder at _how_ she had gotten herself into this mess.

----

As the tree splintered beneath his feet Kakashi could only wonder at how he had gotten himself into this mess. He jumped disappearing mid-air only to reappear a step behind Sakura. She spun around to deliver a blow to his head with her elbow. He deflected it and made a jab for her exposed side, but his hand was caught and she pulled him in closer to her. They were pressed together, he holding fast her elbow and she, his arm. Sakura glared at him but smirked as they pulled apart. He wondered what her confident her in that instant had meant. He waited for her jump at him, as she usually did, but his eye focused on her feet to read her next movement and be sure. Kakashi could see in her eyes Sakura calculating her next move. She stood before him; one hand behind her selecting whatever weapon she felt would be effective. In her medic-nin attire, drastically different, and shorter, that what she wore in their Team 7 days, he could see the muscles of her thighs tense as she shifted her weight slowly. He could sense she was hesitant to make whatever next move had occurred to her.

But suddenly she jumped back over the shattered earth into a tree near to where the one he had been in used to stand. She disappeared briefly behind boughs of green as she alighted from one branch to the next higher one. _What was she planning?_ he wondered, jumping to follow her. Soon he caught up and they both stood facing each other again at the top of two trees. Before he could say anything, she smiled brightly and pulled an orange book from behind her back. He was too shocked to speak.

"I'm glad you've decided to participate now that I've finally taken your book away," she said smarmily.

In an instant he was beside her. He went to snatch the book away when Sakura suddenly disappeared in a poof of smoke and cherry blossom petals. _A replication!_ _She must have sent one up for him to follow when she was climbing and then ran off. _She had counted on him not noticing right away because he was too shocked at the sight of his book in her hands. He checked his bag. _And she still had the real thing!_

Somewhere a crow cawed. Alone on a tree top above the rest of the forest, Hatake Kakashi slouched and dug his hands deep into his vest pockets. If he didn't find her, soon it would be night and he wouldn't get the book back from her until tomorrow. By now the book store was totally sold out, and not even open for that matter. He knew this situation wasn't something worthy enough to invoke his nindogs with Kuchiyose no Jutsu, but the thought of not finishing that novel, _that scene_, during the coming evening almost tempted him to cave. The sun slowly sank in the horizon bathing the entire village in a burning orange glow. _How troublesome,_ he thought.


End file.
